Calcasieu Lake might be best known for trophy speckled trout fishing, but there are plenty of redfish to be had
Captains Nick and Mary Poe were on the hunt recently.
Nick, Mary’s son, was certain his mother wanted more than just trout action, so they motored to an area where he had struck gold the day before.
And there they were, just as he predicted, their presence given away by ripples on the water’s surface.
Somewhere between 500 to 1,000 redfish were just plowing through the middle of southern Big Lake — leaving more than a few slick trails of mullet and pogie oil.“I had just made a couple of turns about a quarter of a mile from the weirs when I saw them,” Nick saidr. “There were a few schools in four to five different places, and they were leaving slicks all over the area.”
Well, the mother-and-son team began casting Super Spooks just ahead of the moving herds.
“They clobbered them,” Nick said. “And we just kept throwing.”
After bouts with braid running and reels chugging, there were six brute redfish on the deck of the boat.
Fortunately, Nick had the wherewithal to have his camera aboard to capture the results of a good morning spent with his mom on the waters of Big Lake.
Known chiefly for its lunker speckled trout of 2 feet and over, this lake also boasts of a hefty redfish population in a very healthy estuary. After all, the redfish of Big Lake share many components of the same diet of the lunker speckled trout these waters are famed for.
As for action, Mary Poe added a some visual perspective to the sport of chasing these hard fighters.
“It is extremely exciting to watch a huge wake turning around and heading to your twitching topwaters,” she explained. “And then there’s the bait smash, the hookup and the line unfurling while your drag is screaming.”
Taking advantage of the mobs of redfish swimming in the lake is just a matter of looking in the right places. Sometimes there’s just ripples on calm days, whereas on others there will be birds with baitfish vaulting through the air in choppy waters. Slicks are also important in your search for redfish as they are to finding foraging speckled trout.
Of course, you can also look for crimson evidence of swimming fish from the height of your decks when the water is clear enough, or just watch for tailing activities as reds root around for food.
Topwaters to throw include just about every type and variety you throw at specks, including Super Spooks, Skitter Walks and Top Dogs. Suspended mullet imitations also work well, and these include Egret Baits’ Kick A Mullet and Paul Brown’s Fat Boy.
“When they’re aggressively feeding, just about anything you throw at their nose will work, including the plastics,” Poe said.
According to the angler, these “herds” of redfish will be seen frequently in Big Lake from now and through November.
Visit the Poes’ Web site or telephone them at 337-598-3268 for more information.